Conedo's Blog

Buddhism at a glance February 25, 2011

Buddhism is traditionally seen as a way to through meditation gain insight into ultimate reality of existence and through this achieve freedom from suffering in the eternal circle of rebirth. A Buddhist temple, Chaweng, Koh Samui, Thailand

Buddhism or Buddha Dharma (Buddha’s Way) is a practical way of life and a religion. Buddhism was founded about 2500 years ago by Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Prince Siddhartha reached during intense meditation in Bodh Gaya, a small town in Bihar, India, which is described as an awakening or enlightenment and became known through this as a Buddha, one who has reached perfect knowledge.

Today, Buddhism is the majority religion in most of Southeast Asia (Indochinese peninsula, including Thailand) and in Mongolia, Tibet and in other Central Asian areas controlled by China and Sri Lanka. There are major Buddhist minorities in Indonesia, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and on the Korean peninsula. Buddhism has also spread to Europe, America and Australia, while it has received no foothold in Africa or the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world.

On the list of the world’s largest religions in terms of the number of confessors, Buddhism is in 6th place. The biggest is Christianity with 2 billion adherents, followed by Islam with 1.6 billion.

Extract from the list of the world’s largest religions:
1st Christianity                                                                 2 billion
2nd Islam                                                                     1.6 billion
3rd Atheism, Agnosticism, Secular, Not Religious                1 billion
4th Hinduism                                                              900 million
5th Chinese traditional religions (Daoism, Confucianism) 394 million
6th Buddhism                                                             376 million
7th Natural Religion                                                     300 million
13th Judaism                                                                14 million
 

Buddhist Ethics
Ethics in Buddhism differs significantly from that in the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), because its goal is to provide advices of living to humans. This is to enable them to generate as good karma as possible. There is therefore no question of right or wrong, rather, constructive or destructive actions – those that lead to happiness and those which lead to the opposite. These advices are also self-imposed and practiced only by those who undertook to do so, for their own and all living sentient beings.

Nim at a Buddhist temple in Salui, Tha Sae, Chumphon, Thailand

The five most common regulations (rules) are:
1st Not to kill – but protect all life
2nd Not to take what is not given – but respect others’ things
3rd Not engage in improper sexuality – but be considerate and responsible
4th Not to lie – but to tell the truth
5th Not to cause that other people abuse drugs, or abusing them yourself – but keep your mind clear

Then there are also:
1st Not to mention the faults of others – but be understanding and compassionate
2nd That is not to exalt himself and devalue others – but to overcome own shortcomings
3rd Not to withhold spiritual and material aid – but freely give when needed
4th Not to indulge in anger – but be lenient
5th Not to denigrate the three jewels – but maintain them  

(Adherents to Buddhism, take refuge in the “three jewels”: the Buddha (“Enlightened One”), Dharma (teachings) and Sangha (the Community).

The ten rules main feature is that anyone who practices them well, sooner or later get an intellectual life free from suffering, because the actions that are most common to cause suffering, are avoided. A mind free of suffering is a mind that has a better meditative ability, a better ability to sometime achieve nirvana.

It should also be noted that the rules was not dogmatic, there are exceptions to most, although it is recommended that as best as possible to follow them as they almost always leads to the best, as long as the mind is free from negative actions when the rules are followed.

 A Buddhist temple, Chaweng, Koh Samui, Thailand
 

Buddha
Buddha is the title that all enlightened acquire. The historical figure of the Buddha aimed at the religious founder, Siddhartha Gautama. There are many oral stories of Buddha, but certain facts about his life are few.

Siddhartha Gautama was probably born 563 BC in Nepal Lumbini. His father was a prince so Siddhartha Gautama was brought up in luxury. But at the age of 29 he saw for the first time an elderly person, a sick and one dead. He had not seen such a thing before, when his father protected him from unpleasant experiences. It was then he realized that neither life nor wealth is something that is forever.

After this, he met a monk who distanced himselves from life’s ephemeral values. Siddhartha Gautama decided to follow the monk’s example and left his home, wife and son to live in asceticism. After six years of hardship, he felt that he still did not have any wisdom. So he left his teachers and friends for that alone engage in meditation. After some time when he sat meditating under a fig tree by the river Ganges, he understood the meaning of life. He became “enlightened” (Buddha).

 Nim and  Rew at a Buddhist temple in Salui, Tha Sae, Chumphon, Thailand

When he had become Buddha, he came to realize that he could not keep all his knowledge to himself. So he began preaching to his friends. This sermon he delivered near Benares, the Ganges. The monks who belonged to the Buddha’s sermon were also his first disciples. After a while he got more and more disciples, and this was the first monastic community.

Buddha’s aim was to help sentient people to end their suffering in accordance with the laws of Karma, by realizing the true nature of phenomena and thereby escape the cycle of involuntary rebirth (reincarnation). Among the methods Buddhists use to achieve this objective, ethical, altruistic behavior, the renunciation of worldly matters, training of the mind through learning and meditation, and the invocation of holy beings and to seek their help to reach enlightenment.
It is above all four events / places in the Buddha’s life that has been emphasized over others when Buddhists have told us about his life: his birth and early years in Lumbini / Kapilavastu, his enlightenment under the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, his first sermon at Sarnath and his death or rise to the nirvana in Kuśinagara.

Big Buddha, Chaweng, Koh Samui, Thailand

Hinayana and Mahayana
There are two major branches of Buddhism: Hinayana, “The small wagon”, which adheres to the doctrine presented in the Pali Canon, and practiced primarily in Southeast Asia, in countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and others, and Mahayana, “the big wagon,” which is the branch that is mainly found in Tibet, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan.
 

The four truths
The four truths are the most pronounced rates of suffering (dukkha) and cause its repeal. According to the scriptures, the Buddha taught the four noble truths in his first sermon. They are often considered to contain the essence and the inner nature of Buddha’s teachings.
The four truths are:
“There is suffering in the world”, “the cause of suffering is craving,” “desire, can and must be erased,” “the way to quench the craving is the eight-fold path”.

Perceptions of the Supreme Reality
According to the scriptures Buddha refused during his lifetime to answer a number of metaphysical questions. On the topics whether the world is eternal or ephemeral, limited or unlimited, for unity or separation of body and soul, or similar, Buddha where decided silent. Most Buddhists agree, to a greater or lesser degree, that words are inadequate to describe the target.

 Nim and  Rew at a Buddhist temple in Salui, Tha Sae, Chumphon, Thailand

Enlightenment  
All traditional Buddhists agree that Gautama Buddha was not the only Buddha, it is taught in general that there have been many previous ‘Buddha’ and that there will emerge other ‘Buddha’ in the future.
It should also be noted that the rules was not dogmatic, there are exceptions to most, although it is recommended that as best as possible to follow them as they almost always leads to the best as long as the mind is free from negative actions when the rules are followed.